I needed you
by twilightWhore28
Summary: Upon running away from home Bella meets the Cullens. She didn't plan on getting attached to the family, especially to the one with the copper colored hair and corny smile. But, what happens when she has to face her past again and why would she deny her true family to the Cullens?


Chapter 1

Time is running out

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

My room was silent and the only thing I could hear was the clock that was hanging by the door that has been in maternal family for almost five generations. Ten more minutes then it's 4oclock.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

I've been laying on my bed staring at the clock for almost an hour. I've successfully blocked out the sounds of my parents fighting. I was either slowly starting to go mad or I was having an epiphany. I didn't like hearing my parents fight, but I fully support whatever my mother threw at my dad. I love my dad, but if he was an honest man that's not the boss of some big mafia company, our family wouldn't have to go through the things we are going through now. Now instead of me being a normal 22 year old that parties every weekend I've been secluded to become a walking shadow of my mother, which entails meeting boring high profile people every week over dinner parties, wearing only the best designer clothing (I'm not complaining about that) and ensuring that to the outside world we look like a normal New York family. My older brother, Emmet, on the other hand can't get enough of the high life. I don't blame him though unlike me he's not anti-social, he has a bunch of friends and he already met the love of his life, Rosalie, also my best friend since 9th grade. Except for the people that works for my family Rosalie is the only outsider that knows about the Swan's illegal business. My father made it very clear to me that my future boyfriend was under no circumstances to ever know what my family actually do.

It's not all bad though we do have a legit family business. I've been working at Swan magazine for nearly a year now. When I finished my BA degree at Stanford University I immediately started writing for the fashion section in the magazine. As partner CEO, my mother has always been more involved in the magazine than my dad. Neither of them was particularly happy when I decided to do a BA degree instead of something more prestigious. After my first week working with the fashion team my mother insisted I take on a position that's not going to make me look like some mediocre middle class worker. But, since I do have a conscious I had to decline. I was more than happy working at Swan doing mediocre work with normal people.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

I've been so consumed in my thoughts that I've lost track of time. It's twenty past four now and as far as I can hear the house is quiet, which means it's safe to go downstairs and fix me a sandwich. Running into my dad would be very unfortunate he's far from being one of my top ten favorite people in the world. I make my way downstairs and blow out a sigh of relief when the kitchen and living room is empty. My peanut butter and jelly sandwich takes less than a minute to prepare and I turn in a rush to head back to my room.

"I've been waiting for you to come downstairs" my father's voice makes me stop midway near the stairwell.

"I've been asleep" I lie. I don't even feel guilty in fact I don't even know why I'm so nice to him he doesn't deserve any of my kindness. "I'm gonna go sleep again."

"I want to talk to you Isabella"

"There's nothing to talk about" I reply without looking at him.

Suddenly I feel him moving towards me "I need you to know what I did was to keep this family together" he put his hands on my shoulders and like an electric wave passing through me I jerk it off immediately. "Isabella, you know family has always been my top priority and there's absolutely nothing I wouldn't do to keep all of us together"

Rapidly I turn facing him, my nostrils flaring "You mean there's nothing you wouldn't do to keep yourself out of rotting in prison for the rest of your life even if it means burning down my childhood home. You're a monster. You were supposed to be my hero, instead you're a glorified thug and a terrible father."

Taking all of my pent-up anger I take the stairs two at a time and don't chance looking back to see the sure hurt expression on my father's face.

Yesterday morning my mother was cleaning Charlie's office when she stumbled upon a copy of a search warrant issued to our previous house. My father has a lot of police contacts so it's easy for him to get the inside scoop if they were planning any arrests on him. What was interesting about the warrant is that the date for the search was set the same day that our mansion mysteriously burnt down. It didn't take much for my mother to put two and two together. My father was so caught up in his crimes that the only thing he could resort to stay out of prison was to burn down our house, thus destroying every piece of evidence that might make him look incriminating. The house that I've lived in for almost 20 years was gone and just knowing that somehow it could have been prevented makes me feel 10 times more miserable about it. I don't dare think about all the valuable items we lost in the fire.

We live in a penthouse in New York and space in my room has never been a problem. I have a closet for my clothes and shoes that's almost as big as the actual room. Yet when I got into my room it couldn't be anymore smaller. I opened the windows to let fresh air in and collapsed on my bed. I found myself in the same position I was in earlier when I had a staring match with the clock. I had put my sandwich on my nightstand, but my hunger already left me.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

The whole afternoon I have been mesmerized by this vintage clock that my Granma gave me before she died. She said it has been in her family for nearly five generations. How it survived this long I have no idea. What's even more astonishing is that when our previous house burned down two years ago it was one of the few items that survived the fire. Looking at it now I couldn't help but think that it was daring me. Finally, I realized that I wasn't slowly going insane, but the whole afternoon I've been so deep in thought looking at the clock because unconsciously and figuratively it has been telling me that time is running out for me to make the most important decisions in my life. I could either stay and live in a house that's going to be the end of me or I could move away and start somewhere else without the prying eyes of my mom and dad. There was no reason for me to live under their supervision anymore, I could get my own apartment and the trust fund my grandparents left me was more than enough for a lifetime. I could even start my own business when I'm ready. I'm not gonna be the dutiful daughter anymore. I'm 22 and don't know anything about love or about the world. All I know is that frat boys suck and following in my parents' footsteps is not going to give me memorable life experiences. I'm not like Emmett, I can't live this life anymore. I need to find out who I am and where I'm heading. Maybe someday I'll come back when I've forgiven my parents for exposing me to death when I was merely a child, for making me believe that the world is a horrible place and for robbing me from most of my youth. I was going to miss them, especially Em and Rose, but this is what I had to do.

My hands are shaking as I quickly head to my closet and grab for my suitcase and start packing in every piece of clothing I could get my hands on. During my frantic rush, I gather up enough strength to call my driver Antonio. He has been my family's personal driver for as long as I can remember and I'm sure he knows much more than what he lets on.

Sadly, my two suitcases is not equipped to keep all my shoes and I'm afraid I have to admit that most of my shoes is gonna have to stay. When I'm sure I have everything I want to take with I go stand by the window and look over New York. I'm not sure if I'm going to miss New York. The last year and a half I didn't much warm up to the city yet. I will miss looking over the city like this though, especially at night.

I don't have the heart to tell my family goodbye face to face so I settle for leaving them with a short note. My handwriting it messy as I rush through my words.

 _I can't do this anymore. I'm leaving and don't know when I'll be coming back. Dad I know with your resources you can easily find me, but I ask you to please respect my decision and leave me be for now till I decide to contact you. Tell Emmett he has always been my favorite and that he should take good care of Rose. Tell them both I love them and that I'll be fine. Be the strong person you've always been Mom. I love all of you!_

 _PS Your Swan Princess._

It's only when I write the last word when I realize I'm crying. Tears are streaming down the note and I can't manage to get a grip of myself. I consider rewriting it over on a new page but then I get a message from Antonio which says he's outside. Before leaving I take a chair and push it towards the door, carefully climbing on the chair I take the vintage clock that's begging me to take it with me. I leave the room barely able to cope with all of my bags, but manage to safely get to the bottom of the stairwell. I make my way to the kitchen and quickly paste my note under a magnet on the fridge. I walk to the front door and look at the penthouse for the last time before closing the door and never being more certain of anything I ever did in my life.

*Authors Note* Please be so kind and leave a review I'm dying to hear your thoughts. Forgive me for any mistakes I don't have a beta and wrote this in wordpad I don't have MSword yet. So if anyone is up to be my beta you can send me a message or you can tell me in a review. Furthermore, if you have any ideas don't be afraid to share it with me. I promise you steady updates and longer chapters if I get a nice response to this first chapter. There may be differences in my spelling because I'm from South Africa and a lot of our spelling differs from America's, I'm assuming the majority of the readers are Americans. Can't wait to hear from you soon.

xoxoxoPrincess Aphroditexoxoxo


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